Artificial Intelligence

But—as even they will tell you—they’re no match for the complexity of the human body. Heart attacks in particular are hard to anticipate. Now, scientists have shown that computers capable of teaching themselves can perform even better than standard medical guidelines, significantly increasing prediction rates. If implemented, the new method could save thousands or even millions of lives a year. “I can’t stress enough how important it is,” says Elsie Ross, a vascular surgeon at Stanford University in Palo Alto, California, who was not involved with the work, “and how much I really hope that doctors start to embrace the use of artificial intelligence to assist us in care of patients.”

Each year, nearly 20 million people die from the effects of cardiovascular disease, including heart attacks, strokes, blocked arteries, and other circulatory system malfunctions.
AI wins $290,000 in Chinese poker competition. Image copyright Getty Images An artificial intelligence program has beaten a team of six poker players at a series of exhibition matches in China.

The AI system, called Lengpudashi, won a landslide victory and $290,000 (£230,000) in the five-day competition. It is the second time this year that an AI program has beaten competitive poker players.
Elon Musk launches Neuralink, a venture to merge the human brain with AI - The Verge. Alexa on iOS: Siri's Not Even the Best iPhone Assistant Anymore. Apple’s Siri may not be the most capable voice assistant, or the most beloved.

In the race to dominate the next generation of interfaces, though, Siri had one key advantage: a cushy home on hundreds of millions of iPhones. Now, however, Amazon has snuck Alexa onto iOS—making this look more and more like a blowout. Amazon’s shopping app, already a destination, now becomes a Trojan Horse for Amazon’s most promising product in years. What makes Alexa on iOS so intriguing isn’t just that it’s there, but where. There was already an Alexa app, a rudimentary utility that let users fiddle with the settings on their Amazon Echoes. That puts iPhone and iPad owners just two taps away—one to open the Amazon app, the next to activate the microphone—from a voice assistant that doesn’t just rival Siri, but surpasses it in significant ways.

Towards a lip-reading computer. Scientists at Oxford say they've invented an artificial intelligence system that can lip-read better than humans.

The system, which has been trained on thousands of hours of BBC News programmes, has been developed in collaboration with Google's DeepMind AI division. "Watch, Attend and Spell", as the system has been called, can now watch silent speech and get about 50% of the words correct. That may not sound too impressive - but when the researchers supplied the same clips to professional lip-readers, they got only 12% of words right.

Joon Son Chung, a doctoral student at Oxford University's Department of Engineering, explained to me just how challenging a task this is. "Words like mat, bat and pat all have similar mouth shapes.
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Bank-of-america-s-michelle-moore-explains-why. Michelle Moore is Bank of America's head of digital banking, based in Charlotte.

Photo courtesy of Bank of America Bank of America Corp.
Google’s plan to make talk less toxic. Image copyright Thinkstock "Never read below the line" - that has become sensible advice for anyone tempted to look at online comments.

The depressingly toxic nature of internet conversations is of increasing concern to many publishers. But now Google thinks it may have an answer - using computers to moderate comments. The search giant has developed something called Perspective, which it describes as a technology that uses machine learning to identify problematic comments.
Elon Musk thinks humans need to become cyborgs or risk irrelevance - The Verge. AI program beats humans in poker game. Image copyright Rivers Casino A poker-playing AI has beaten four human players in a marathon match lasting 20 days.

Libratus, an artificial intelligence program developed at Carnegie Mellon University, was trained to play a variant of the game known as no-limit heads-up Texas hold 'em. In a similar tournament in 2015, the humans won.
MEPs vote on robots' legal status - and if a kill switch is required. Image copyright Thinkstock MEPs have called for the adoption of comprehensive rules for how humans will interact with artificial intelligence and robots.

The report makes it clear that it believes the world is on the cusp of a "new industrial" robot revolution. It looks at whether to give robots legal status as "electronic persons". Designers should make sure any robots have a kill switch, which would allow functions to be shut down if necessary, the report recommends.
33rd Square: Artificial Intelligence Listens to Classical Composer and Then Writes Music in the Same Style. Can a machine create chorales in the same style of Bach?

By the sound of what a team of French researchers have created, the answer is, in a good proportion of the time. The team has developed a neural network that has learned to produce choral cantatas in the style of the German composer, and their testing backs up the validity of the arrangements. Artificial intelligence researchers have used deep learning techniques to create an algorithm that can write original music in the style of 17th-century German composer Johann Sebastian Bach. The work has been published online. Gaetan Hadjeres and Francois Pachet at the Sony Computer Science Laboratories in Paris call their artificial intelligence agent “DeepBach.”
Okay Google, you need a cuter name. Stephen Hawking: Automation and AI is going to decimate middle class jobs. British scientist Prof.

Stephen Hawking gives his 'The Origin of the Universe' lecture to a packed hall December 14, 2006 at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel. Hawking suffers from ALS (Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis or Lou Gehrigs disease), which has rendered him quadriplegic, and is able to speak only via a computerized voice synthesizer which is operated by batting his eyelids. David Silverman/Getty Images Artificial intelligence and increasing automation is going to decimate middle class jobs, worsening inequality and risking significant political upheaval, Stephen Hawking has warned.

AI that lip-reads 'better than humans'
Image copyright Thinkstock Scientists at Oxford University have developed a machine that can lip-read better than humans. The artificial intelligence system - LipNet - watches video of a person speaking and matches the text to the movement of their mouths with 93% accuracy, the researchers said. Automating the process could help millions, they suggested. But experts said the system needed to be tested in real-life situations.
IBM Is Counting on Its Bet on Watson, and Paying Big Money for It. AI predicts outcome of human rights cases.

Image copyright Getty Images An artificial intelligence system has correctly predicted the outcomes of hundreds of cases heard at the European Court of Human Rights, researchers have claimed. The AI predicted the verdicts to an accuracy of 79%, according to the scientists involved. AI is increasingly being used in fields such as journalism, law and accountancy.
Stephen Hawking - will AI kill or save humankind?
Image copyright Getty Images Two years ago Stephen Hawking told the BBC that the development of full artificial intelligence, could spell the end of the human race.

His was not the only voice warning of the dangers of AI - Elon Musk, Bill Gates and Steve Wozniak also expressed their concerns about where the technology was heading - though Professor Hawking's was the most apocalyptic vision of a world where robots decide they don't need us any more. What all of these prophets of AI doom wanted to do was to get the world thinking about where the science was heading - and make sure other voices joined the scientists in that debate.

That they have achieved that aim was evident on Wednesday night at an event in Cambridge marking the opening of the Centre for the Future of Intelligence, designed to do some of that thinking about the implications of AI. And Professor Hawking was there to help launch the centre. Image copyright Google. IBM AI system Watson to diagnose rare diseases in Germany.

Image copyright Thinkstock IBM's artificial intelligence platform Watson will work with doctors in Germany attempting to solve some complex medical cases.
Humans need new skills for post-AI world, say MPs. Image copyright Thinkstock Robotics and AI have "huge potential" to reshape the way people work and live, but the government needs to do more to address the issues raised by such technology, says a report. MPs on the Science and Technology Committee have called for careful scrutiny of the probable ethical, legal and societal impact. They want the government to establish a commission to look at the issues. That will include new skills for humans as artificial intelligence takes jobs. Science fact. OK, Google - who will win the AI wars?
Image copyright Getty Images. Samsung takes over AI pioneer and creators of Apple's Siri. Image copyright AFP Samsung has stepped up its focus on artificial intelligence (AI) by taking over Viv, a digital assistant developed by the creators of Apple's Siri.

The acquisition comes just days after Google launched its new Pixel phone which also puts a strong focus on an AI digital assistance function. Amazon and Microsoft are also making a push into getting computers to learn and respond like human beings. Samsung has recently seen its image battered by the global Note 7 recall.
Google Allo vs. Apple iMessage vs. Facebook Messenger: How They Compare. So long, ads? The future of messaging apps.

Two years ago, Forrester made the claim that mobile was the new face of social. With more than 3 billion users worldwide, messaging apps demonstrated one of the fastest-growing online behaviors and passed social networks.
How To Build Bots for Messenger - Facebook for Developers. Today, we're launching the Messenger Platform (beta), making it possible for developers to connect with the more than 900 million people around the world who use Messenger every month.
Why banks need chatbots (eventually)
AI will eliminate 6 percent of jobs in five years, says report. Within five years robots and so-called intelligent agents will eliminate many positions in customer service, trucking and taxi services, amounting to 6 percent of jobs, according to a Forrester report.

"By 2021, a disruptive tidal wave will begin," said Brian Hopkins, VP at Forrester, in the report. "Solutions powered by AI/cognitive technology will displace jobs, with the biggest impact felt in transportation, logistics, customer service, and consumer services.
" Intelligent agents, chat bots and digital assistants include Amazon's Alexa, Apple's Siri, Alphabet's GoogleNow and Facebook's Messenger bots. They are powered by artificial intelligence and they can already understand a person's behavior, interpret their needs and even make decisions for them.
Google’s DeepMind AI fakes some of the most realistic human voices yet.

We don't understand AI because we don't understand intelligence. John Searle: "Consciousness in Artificial Intelligence"
Mark Zuckerberg's AI is already making him toast. Mark Zuckerberg's personal artificial intelligence is already toast...ing his bread.
AI fighter pilot wins in combat simulation. Image copyright AFP An artificially intelligent fighter pilot system has defeated two attacking jets in a combat simulation. The AI, known as Alpha, used four virtual jets to successfully defend a coastline against two attacking aircraft - and did not suffer any losses.

Google working on 'common-sense' AI engine at new Zurich base. Image copyright Google Google is extending its push into artificial intelligence with a new European research centre dedicated to advancing the technology. Based in Zurich, the team will focus on three areas - machine learning, natural language understanding and computer perception.
'Harmful' robot aims to spark AI debate. Google developing kill switch for AI. Image copyright Thinkstock Scientists from Google's artificial intelligence division, DeepMind, and Oxford University are developing a "kill switch" for AI.